Hospital secretary falsified overtime

A FORMER theatre secretary at the Royal Oldham Hospital has admitted to spuriously claiming more than £1,000 in overtime.

Leanne Forbes (29), of Palm Grove, Chadderton, pleaded guilty to four counts of dishonestly falsifying documents for accounting purposes.

The incidents happened during March, April, June and September last year, and included one occasion when she was off ill.

Oldham Magistrates’ Court heard how Forbes had worked for the Pennine Acute Trust, which runs hospitals in Oldham, Bury, North Manchester and Rochdale, since January, 2005.

She had been employed to work 37 hours a week, from 9am to 5pm, and one of her main duties was inputting staff invoices.

Suspicion arose last December when it was found that overtime had been added to her hours.

Balance

When the computer system was checked, it revealed Forbes had added hours several times.

Checks of the hospital’s paper-based system, used before October, 2007, also revealed added overtime.The total she had received was £1,084.

Thomas McCabe, defending, said that Forbes had become ill while working at the job and had needed private treatment.

He said: “That led her, in time, to a position where she started to claim on her pay slips.” Mr McCabe said Forbes had pleaded guilty at the first possible occasion and had repaid £35 of the total, with a view to paying off the full balance at a rate of £50 a week.

He said Forbes, who no longer works for the trust, had no previous convictions.

Magistrates adjourned the matter until October 6 for a pre-sentence report and said they were looking at a medium community order with unpaid work. Forbes was given unconditional bail.